Azernews.Az

A procedure of obtaining the "stars" by the hotel and hotel-type facilities has been complicated in Azerbaijan, head of research, statistics and licensing department under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Rahman Orujlu told Trend news agency.

He said that earlier, while assessing the category of hotels and hotel-type facilities, 150 criteria were taken into account. But at present, the number of criteria has been increased to 300 in the state standard.

According to the old standards, the appropriate equipment was required. But according to the new standard, the adequacy of the equipment is taken into account, he said.

He added that the minimum requirements for a particular star category were not determined in old standards. However, the new standards reflect the minimum requirements for corresponding to this or that star category. The new standards also reflect some provisions of the international standard for quality management.

The hotels obtain stars every three years, Orujlu said.

As of the first half of 2012, there are 355 legal and physical entities operating in the hotel sector in Azerbaijan. They obtained special licenses from the Culture and Tourism Ministry. The number of facilities which passed state classification reached 70.